Bing Crosby mesmerized all of us with his soothing voice. The famous crooner was born Harry Lillis Crosby on May 3, 1902, in Tacoma, Washington. He was the fourth of seven children of bookkeeper, Harry Lincoln Crosby. Little Harry was a fan of “The Bingville Bugle” a Sunday feature of the local newspaper. A neighborhood Read More
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Christmas Songs: Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Santa Claus is Coming to Town is a Christmas song written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The earliest known version of the song dates back to 1934 and became an instant hit. This recording was by Harry Reser and his band. “Cantor’s original performance, broadcast at the height of the Great Depression, included Read More
I’ve Got Plenty To Be Thankful For
I’ve Got Plenty To Be Thankful For is an Irvin Berlin classic. He wrote the son for the 1942 film “Holiday Inn“. The movie stared Bing Crosby, whose version of this song is best known. In the film, Crosby’s character, Jim, is depressed and lonely after losing his sweetheart. Asked to write a song for Read More
Autumn Leaves
Autumn Leaves is a popular jazz standard. The song was composed by Joseph Kosma and the original lyrics were written in French by Jacques Prévert. The duo collaborated on the song for ”Les Feuilles mortes” (“The Dead Leaves”) for the 1946 French film translated into Gates of the Night. Irene Joachim sung the song in Read More
Mele Kalikimaka
Bing Crosby popularized the song Mele Kalikimaka. In 1949, Robert Alex Anderson wrote the Christmas song Mele Kalikimaka. Anderson wrote many popular Hawaiian songs including Lovely Hula Hands. The phrase Mele Kalikimaka means “Merry Christmas” in Hawaiian. In 1950, Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters recorded the song. It has since been covered by many Read More
She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain
She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain is a traditional folk song, but is derived from the spiritual “When the Chariot Comes”. The song first appeared in Carl Sandburg’s 1927, The American Songbag. He reported that “the spiritual “When the Chariot Comes“, which was sung to the same melody, was adapted by railroad workers in the Read More
Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!
With the arrival of spring, comes a spring in the step and a song in the heart. Everyone enjoys that beautiful feeling. Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ is the opening song from the musical Oklahoma! Oklahoma! was the first collaboration and hit for composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. Oklahoma! on the Broadway Read More
Lullaby of Broadway
Lullaby of Broadway was a popular Doris Day song in the 1950s. However, it was first published in 1935. The words were written by Harry Warren and the lyrics by Al Dubin. The song was written for Gold Diggers of 1935, a musical film. The song was also used that same year as background music Read More
Love Is a Many Splendored Thing
Love is a Many Splendored Thing was written by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster for the 1955 film by the same name. The song was also used for the soap opera Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, which was based on the movie, and ran from 1967 to 1973. The song won the Oscar Read More
Unchained Melody
Alex North was an American composer who wrote the scores for numerous films such as A Streetcar Named Desire, Cleopatra, Spartacus, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? In 1954, he was contacted to write a score for a prison film Unchained. While working on the score, he was asked to write a song based on Read More